Hiiro no Kakera: Dai Ni Shou – 06

Not only is Grandma’s bitch dial turned to max, she ups the ante by turning her psycho dial up a notch. She’s successfully added murder to her roster of wrongdoings and quite frankly, her mindset is morbidly fascinating. As a master manipulator, Grandma is frustratingly good at turning any situation to her advantage, pinpointing a person’s weakness and latching onto it like an unholy leech while spewing venom worthy of the deadliest viper. The protagonists are naive for sure, but this old lady is a step above every single one of them when it comes to construing circumstances in her favor.

It was certainly rage-inducing watching Tamaki so passively let Takuma go, but considering how Grandma worded Takuma’s transformation last episode, it’s not difficult to see why noble idiocy reared its ugly head in this case. From Tamaki’s point of view, the situation has been framed as her fault – she is the cause of Takuma’s plight. She is causing his transformation, because she isn’t powerful enough, because she has yet to fully awaken as the Tamayori Princess. It’s a devious way for Grandma to have things go the way she wants, but it’s highly effective as it renders any objections Tamaki might have had completely moot. The one thing Tamaki does not have faith in is herself – it’s that weakness Grandma exploits, just as she exploits Takuma’s desire to protect Tamaki. In this aspect she makes the best villain in the show. Her motives can’t even be considered purely good anymore, and her character is even gnarlier than the wrinkles on her face. The drama she causes is certainly meaty and welcome, but to lower viewer blood pressure, her screen time needs to be reduced stat.

Mitsuru is another victim of Grandma’s never-ending list of People to Torture, and she seems to have taken the psychological brunt of most of her manipulative nature due to her proximity to the old woman. She seems to have retreated into a catatonic state, most likely to cope with the guilt of having to lead innocent people to their deaths. While it can be argued she’s responsible for her actions, it’s hard to blame Mitsuru completely since she seems like such a classic victim of circumstance. Nothing will validate them, but just how much of it was her actions? Grandma’s influence is so strong with her that it’s very difficult to tell where Mitsuru’s own will begins and ends. At this point she seems to have resigned herself completely to her fate, something that’s both tragic yet a little foolish. It’s foolish in the sense that she’s almost willingly committed to following Grandma’s orders, whatever they may be. More of the responsibility gets shifted onto her, and you can only be called a victim so many times. It perpetuates an ugly cycle: Grandma preys on Mitsuru’s passiveness, and that passiveness leads her to simply submit to the old woman’s demands, starting another round of manipulation.

Perhaps it’ll be better to just hand the Onikirimaru to Logos as Shinji suggests, since it’s hard to imagine a worse fate for the protagonists. It feels like having the Logos oppose them would be more beneficial in awakening the true potential of the Tamayori Princess and her guardians than this angsty merry-go-round the characters seem to be stuck in. I don’t even want to know what Mahiro’s role is – it can’t be anything pleasant, considering Grandma’s track record. Unfortunately, Aria doesn’t seem too intent on taking the Onikirimaru though, and while her personal motives have remained in the dark so far, this episode offers a glimpse into what she may want.

Reviving the dead has always been a popular motivation, and not without reason. The pain of missing somebody is often too great, but there’s also something awfully romantic about an unreachable goal that defies all reason and logic. It drives people to impossible lengths because the fundamental emotion behind the desire is love, the most powerful and vivid emotion there is. Who exactly Aria wants to revive is unclear, but it’s highly likely it is her mother, since the song Vier sings is something very much akin to a lullaby a mother would sing to her infant daughter.

Vier has always been rather maternal towards Aria, and it’s interesting that Suguru points out her uncanny resemblance to his own mother. It would be some kind of twisted fate if she did indeed somehow turn out to be Suguru’s mother, but it’d also provide Vier with a solid reason to oppose Grandma and side with Logos – assuming there is no memory loss involved.

The protagonists are naive for sure, but this old lady is a step above every single one of them when it comes to construing circumstances in her favor.

I do indeed agree that the primary reason why the protagonists fall victim to her scheming is their naïveté…manipulative old(er) b*tches are actually quite a common trope in Asian drama; typically, she runs circles around the naïve younger generation until (rather ironically) several of them wise up as a result of their (constructed) tribulations and beat her at her own game, sending her to an inevitable demise…I like to call these characters Cixis, after the tyrannical Empress Dowager Cixi who was the de facto ruler of China for ~47 years during the Qing Dynasty- and I’d imagine (I have no empirical evidence to support this XP), single-handedly popularized the domineering (and manipulative) old b*nt trope in East Asian culture…

That Grandma…I really feel like punching her.How dare she manipulate them like that?!!What is she aiming for , exactly?It appears she is plotting to kill her own granddaughter…
On the otherhand , I am so glad that Tamaki managed to break the barrier!!I hope she manages to escape and reach Takuma .It would be so annoying if she got to the steps outisde the house and Grandma was there, waiting with arms crossed..

Wow… Grandma has officially lost it! Although I’m pretty sure she lost it a long time ago! Hopefully everyone realizes this now and stops listening to her already because she keeps messing everything up! I couldn’t stand watching Takuma call for Tamaki only for her to basically ignore him. With all the rejection between them in this episode, I’m really looking forward to an epic reunion in the next episode! Maybe even a kiss FINALLY! It looks like some of the pieces are finally falling into place so I have a good feeling about the last half of this season. Fingers crossed!

I’m glad that everyone is on the hating grandma bandwagon. Even if she’s doing it for a ‘greater good’, for which there is no evidence, she’s still in the wrong. But I actually got mad and yelled at the show this episode. Why? Oh, because they are so so sooooooo willing to forgive little boy blue’s betrayal. What, you can’t forgive yourself… Make me dinner and we’re even. Wow, that pissed me off. Betrayal cuts way deeper than that and it is being taken way to lightly in this show. I’m actually at a loss for words now…

Actually ,the way I saw it , in previous episodes , Mahiro was pretty angry with Shinji , and it wasn’t until that particular moment he showed any kind of forgiving behavior. Yuuichi seemed more forgiving , but he is a calmer character…

The first time it was mentioned it was Suguru’s Mom like 3 episodes back. That’s why he “defected” to logos. But after today’s episode it’s implied that the list is longer. Killing for the greater good. yay! way to go baba-sama

Actually, I’m more curious about the government guy(the glasses guy in the suit). What is his endgame?
All he does is skulk around like a shifty uncle,and the guy characters all hate him. Has anyone played the game so we know his story?